An Encounter with a Local (Eric)

While we were out exploring the English countryside, I had a brief encounter with a local that I found amusing and worth sharing.

Those of you who know me well are aware of the phenomenon that random people have this tendency to strike up a conversation with me. While I was photographing some sheep and engaging in conversation with Jenny about the sheep (we did this quite often - we found them to be fun subjects), this gentleman (who by the way had teeth that were really bad even by English standards and an accent so thick that I could barely understand anything he was saying) proceeds to start talking to me. Initially, I cannot make out anything he is trying to say, but then I realize he is asking about a beacon (a signal fire that would have been used back in the day to warn people of invaders) - if you have seen Lord of the Rings, you may be familiar with the concept. Anyway, he is asking if the beacon had been moved from the top of a nearby watchtower to the hillside. As I have said, I had already been engaged in conversation, so I thought that he would be able to tell that I am not exactly familiar with the area based on my accent, but that did not seem to deter him, and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that he had not actually been listening to me, so I politely inform him that I am not from around here.

He finally seems to actually listen to what I am saying and realize that my accent is not English. He then seems to think he is witty for figuring out that my accent is not British and asks me where I am from. I tell him Houston, Texas, and he claims that this is the one place in America that he has always wanted to visit. I have no idea if he was just being polite, and if I had said I was from Dryden, Texas (town of about four buildings in west Texas), he would have said the same thing, but people in Houston be on the lookout for an Englishman with really bad teeth and an almost unintelligible accent. Once he learned my origins, it seemed I became an instant friend because he knew someone from Galveston, and he proceeded to talk to me about the local political situation and why England was going down the tubes. I was smiling politely, but if it had not been for Alex and Melissa coming back and giving me an excuse to extricate myself from the conversation, I think this gentleman would still be talking to me.

These kinds of experiences are part of the fun of traveling, and the interaction with locals and learning about their viewpoints give you more insights into what life is truly like for people who live here.